EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Frontline Education | October 06, 2022
Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, today announced the completion of its sale of Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, to Roper Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ROP) in an all-cash transaction that values Frontline at approximately $3.725 billion. Frontline, which offers solutions for human capital management, student and special programs, and business operations with powerful analytics to increase productivity and improve overall performance for K-12 administrators, has been a trusted partner to K-12 leaders across all 50 states for decades.
"We are grateful to Thoma Bravo for their invaluable partnership over the last five years which has allowed us to further expand the use of our critical solutions by educators across the country,As part of Roper, we are excited to bring enhanced innovation and value to our clients in alignment with our mission to empower K-12 schools with the technology capabilities they need to succeed."
Mark Gruzin, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Education
We are extremely proud of our partnership with Frontline and what we have been able to achieve together," said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. Applying our deep sector expertise, we worked with Mark and the Frontline team to make strategic acquisitions, increase revenue and expand product offerings and headcount in order to drive sustainable long-term growth. We look forward to following Frontline's continued success with Roper as their partner. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Jefferies LLC and Macquarie Capital served as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Thoma Bravo and Frontline Education. Cooley LLP also served as legal advisor to Frontline Education.
About Thoma Bravo
Thoma Bravo is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with more than $122 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2022. The firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging the firm's deep sector expertise and proven strategic and operational capabilities, Thoma Bravo collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices, drive growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings. Over the past 20 years, the firm has acquired or invested in more than 400 companies representing over $220 billion in enterprise value. The firm has offices in Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Otus | November 10, 2022
Otus, a leader in K-12 student-growth edtech, today announced that CenterPoint Education Solutions’ Illustrative Math (IM) certified and EL Education aligned interim assessments, along with state standards assessments will now be available on the Otus integrated learning platform. With these assessments available on the Otus platform, educators and students will have instant access to high-quality assessments aligned with their curriculum or their state’s standards
Since its launch in 2016, Otus has been used by educators to optimize learning and help accelerate student growth for over 1 million students nationwide. Otus provides educators with one place to gather, visualize and act on data to maximize student outcomes. The all-in-one platform saves educators time by integrating traditional and standards-based grading, assessments, progress monitoring, data-informed instruction, and more.
“CenterPoint is excited to bring our aligned assessments to Otus; we hope more districts look toward incorporating assessments that are aligned with their curriculum and (state) standards, Aligned assessments allow educators to gauge both student understandings and misunderstandings paramount information to guide instructional planning. Otus’ learning platform gathers student-growth data and visualizations in one place, which models CenterPoint’s larger mission of monitoring student achievement around assessments.”
LJ Sylvester, Vice President of Growth at CenterPoint.
Interim assessments are administered throughout a school year and are key to supporting learning. They empower educators to measure student learning, identify where students are on their path to grade-level expectations, and provide data to drive instructional strategy. With Otus now hosting CenterPoint’s IM-certified, EL Education, and standards-aligned interim assessments, students and educators are provided with expanded access to high-quality curriculum-aligned assessments. Via Otus’ platform, CenterPoint’s assessments will make use of the existing assessment functionality, including technology-enhanced question types to heighten student engagement and real-time standards-aligned data reporting for teachers to inform instructional strategy. Otus is thrilled to add CenterPoint Education Solutions to its ever-growing network of partners and to be able to offer their top-notch, curriculum-aligned assessments to Otus users,” said Phil Collins, Ed.D., SVP of Client Success. “As Otus continues to expand its offerings of partner assessments available to users on the platform, we aim to provide high-quality, diverse options, and ultimately empower educators to make data-driven decisions that improve their schools. By integrating CenterPoint Education Solutions’ assessments into Otus, we are taking a huge step in that direction. Both the Illustrative Math and EL Education curricula are green rated by EdReports and have shown consistent results for student achievement. CenterPoint was the first organization to develop interim assessments aligned to these curricula to support the important work of teaching and learning at the ground level.
The following grades and content areas are licensed for use on Otus’ platform:
Illustrative Mathematics Aligned Interims Assessments: Grades 3-8, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry
EL Education Aligned Interim Assessments: Grades K-8
Eureka Math Topic Items: Grades K-8
CenterPoint Standards Aligned Interim Assessments in ELA: Grades K-11
CenterPoint Standards Aligned Interim Assessments in Mathematics: Grades K-8, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry
About Otus
Otus significantly improves the way we support students by providing an all-in-one platform for educators to gather, visualize, and act on student data to ensure every child – no matter their learning level or background – is on a trajectory to achieve their true potential. Otus was created and built for teachers, by teachers. It saves educators time through the streamlined integration of assessment, performance tracking, and third-party data, while its gradebook and dashboard reports make it easy for teachers, administrators, and families to understand each student’s growth. Otus has delivered improved results for more than 1 million learners.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
CYPHER LEARNING | December 05, 2022
CYPHER LEARNING, a leading provider of learning platforms for schools, universities and organizations around the world, today announced the official launch of its innovative skills development features. This functionality, immediately available to users of both of the company's products, MATRIX LMS for Business and NEO LMS for K-20, helps drive personalized learning journeys, tailored to learners' skills and needs.The advanced features are staples of CYPHER LEARNING's intelligent learning platform (ILP). The company unveiled ILP earlier this year, inviting users to test out the new, intelligent features. STI Education Services Group (STI ESG), one of the largest networks of schools in the Philippines, has helped drive learning success using CYPHER LEARNING's skills development capabilities.As an academic institution, we are dedicated to empowering our teachers with the skills and resources they need to become more effective mentors to their students," said Aisa Q. Hipolito, vice president for academics at STI. "With CYPHER LEARNING's new capabilities, our teachers can improve their own skills and knowledge both of which are essential to supporting students' success. The new functionality benefits students in other ways too, enabling them to explore their interests and create individual learning goals based on their desired careers in the future. Teachers can track the progress of students and provide feedback and intervention, when necessary, to help students achieve their goals.
Educational institutions and businesses can take advantage of the following skills development features available in CYPHER LEARNING platforms to drive mastery of skills:
The ability to tag content and resources with competencies, so learners can achieve goals mapped to their roles, careers, educational standards and more.
Learners receive personalized recommendations, in the form of courses, groups and forums to join, learning paths and more that reflect their goals, background and previous accomplishments.
Instructors can automate daily tasks such as enrolling learners in courses or awarding points and badges to save time and make learning personalized.
Learners and their instructors can track goal progress from the main overview page.
Learners can participate in Q&A forums where they can ask questions and get support on achieving goals.
"Skills development features can also help bridge the gap between academics and industry making students better prepared as they enter the job market,Our platform can be populated with different job competencies from across industries, which educational institutions then map with their courses and curricula. When students set learning goals, the goals and related activities can equip them with the skills they'll need in their careers."
Jenielyn Padernal, CYPHER LEARNING's global EdTech director.
Graham Glass, CEO of CYPHER LEARNING, said: "Whether you're an employee or a student, learning is more useful and enjoyable when it's relevant to you. As we enable learners to set meaningful goals, we're also making it easier for them to achieve them. The learning process should be learner-centric, and at CYPHER LEARNING, we're committed to that approach."
About CYPHER LEARNING
CYPHER LEARNING provides an intelligent learning platform that is empowering schools, businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide to reimagine online education and deliver the best learning experiences. CYPHER LEARNING has solutions for all major e-learning sectors: NEO LMS for K-20, MATRIX LMS for Business, and INDIE LMS for Entrepreneurs. Relied on by millions of users, CYPHER LEARNING supports 50+ languages and has offices worldwide with global headquarters in Plano, Texas.
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